They mainly disliked the baked-in noise reduction for RAW files, which is the exact reason I didn't pay for the upgrade.

Yeah, it created some conflict - on the one hand, you had to accept the baked-in noise reduction for which they have not provided an off switch in spite of people asking - easy firmware update to make, in my opinion.

On the other hand, you'd get improved colour and autofocus, and I believe we still don't know - correct me if I'm wrong - if the autofocus improvements were in the K-1 firmware upgrade because nobody re-tested the K-1's autofocus against the K-1 II after the last (or relevant?) firmware update came through.

My preference at the moment goes to the K-1 classic, but providing a real NR off switch would change that.

---------- Post added 12-23-18 at 04:44 AM ----------

Originally posted by Larrymc

Well that just shows you what the DiPs at DP review know..........absolutely nothing!

Yeah, it created some conflict - on the one hand, you had to accept the baked-in noise reduction for which they have not provided an off switch in spite of people asking - easy firmware update to make, in my opinion.

I don't care about NR in RAW at ISO higher than 3200 if they made it very accurate.

I trust Chris and Jordan, I think they are right. Some software tweaking and noise reduction burned in to the RAW is not what the Pentax K-1 II should be. At least the KP fetaures like manual shutter speed limit for auto ISO should be included in a new flagship camera. The K-1 is a really good landscape camera (DPreview says it also!), but the K-1II improved in areas where it falls far behind the competition like the AF tracking and got worst where the K-1 was the king: IQ. So now the K-1II isn't the best in anything and not desireable where it's improved features needed.

In general I feel DPreview biased, but not Chris and Jordan. I miss the DFA* 50 F1.4 much more from the list of best products then I disagree with K-1II as the second worst camera of the year.

While the K-1 II is a great camera (like its predecessor), I feel that the small tweaks which were put into it were far from what you'd expect in a model that's almost 2 years newer. The dynamic pixel shift technology is quite promising, but in its current state (i.e. lacking software support), it's more of an experimental feature, in my opinion. Perhaps this is what DPR is getting at. That said, some more positive publicity is still merited given the camera's excellent value...

I miss the DFA* 50 F1.4 much more from the list of best products then I disagree with K-1II as the second worst camera of the year.

Pentax doesn’t pay for swanky intro parties (and trips even) to introduce new products, write the text for reviewers to use (making them all sound the same) or provide dozens of pre-release production lenses to reviewers. Naturally they don’t have the obligation to praise (so they are invited to San Francisco again), publish Pentax reviews without actually doing any original writing, or actually use the Product enough to remember it when they make the ‘Year’s Best’ lists.

In general they end up thinking PentaxMustBeDoomed because Pentax doesn’t behave like the “robust” companies.

It is not unusual for reviewers to pan "new" products that are a subtle rework of an existing model, particularly if the signature new features either don't work well (hand-held PS) or compromise existing performance (ISO threshold for accelerator NR set one or two stops too low with no provision to tune or opt-out).

That being said, 2nd Worst Camera is a low blow, particularly given the huge number of runner's up, the poor performance of third-worst, and the abysmal nature of the "worst" camera. It probably would have been sufficient to simply ignore the K-1ii as not rising above its previous incarnation or that of its competition.

When people are asking for a K-3 successor for multiple years and you only offer them a KP on crop side; When you launch a digital FF system with a healthy roadmap but only offer 1 additional lens from it in 2 years, you're not really helping yourself as a company.

DPR don't seem to dislike the brand, they dislike the current management. And the fanbase here can come off as really... overly enthusiastic... to critical thoughts.

Well I must be a complete moron. I bought the K-1 Mark II just a couple of months ago when there were amazing package deals to be had. I've enjoyed using it and am very happy with the images I've got. Without DPR I would have had no idea what a crappy camera I've wasted my money on.